bruce

Estimating – Job or Career?

Posted on February 7, 2012 by bruce

Historically, the role of “estimator” has been filled within various industries by individuals with broad and diverse backgrounds. Any business wishing to expand its facilities or invest in new business ventures has to have a thorough understanding of the capital expense (CAPEX) and operating expense (OPEX) costs. Whether performed by either a single individual or a large group, within an owner company or by a contractor organization, the resulting estimate needs to be accurate and reliable as a critical factor in making the “go” or “no go” decision to proceed. The individuals that fill this critical role may look at it the position as a lifelong endeavor or simply the means to move on to other activities. Read More...

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imoyse

To SaaS or not to SaaS

Posted on February 6, 2012 by imoyse

SaaS (Software as a Service) or Cloud is everywhere right now and its adoption is rapid. Some companies are resisting it at all costs seeing it as going to the dark side and fearing lack of control or security, while others are rushing towards putting everything they can in the cloud as quickly as they can. A balance is needed as SaaS can bring benefits to companies of all sizes. However, organisations need to review it as simply another option to their business requirements that is now open to them. Read More...

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andrewgriffin

What discount rate should I use?

Posted on February 5, 2012 by andrewgriffin

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Posted in Accounting, Capital Markets, Research | Leave a comment

imoyse

“Thinking Out cLOUD”

Posted on February 3, 2012 by imoyse

With so much hype, Cloud is being pushed as the pervasive answer to everything! Rightly or wrongly! As more and more cloud solutions come to market and are campaigned to customers the blurring of differentiation between them is making the customer choice harder. It is increasingly easy for vendors to ‘cloud wash’ old technologies and re-market them as a full cloud solution, but not all will be successful and not all will deliver on the overpromised benefits that are often being made. Many of these solutions it could be argued are not truly cloud solutions and have large installs on customer sites with little of the true power coming from the internet. A large PC based application simply getting automatic updates from the cloud or calling on the cloud for its web interface for administration can be argued to not really be a cloud application and yet vendors are hanging their hats on these concepts in an effort to cash in on the cloud hype! We are also seeing large vendors in their times of cloud exploration getting it wrong and having to adjust strategies. Read More...

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jwinget

Green Power Powers Up

Posted on February 2, 2012 by jwinget

Recently the alternative energy programs such as wind and solar energy are reaching a peculiar maximum. Loosing the assistance of several large tax credits of the last ten years, the looming crisis of affordability lingers  at the door. It is possible the solar and wind energies are becoming compatible with the fossil fuels. After years of incentives, research, development, and government assistance the alternative energies are offering competitive rates. Homeowners with ambitions manage to install solar power in their homes that return power to their power grid. The term living off the grid is having serious meaning to many who choose to live with alternative energy. Read More...

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